Standard & Poor's to hold a webinarWebinar entitled, "Streamlining Risk Management Across the Front & Middle Office" explores how portfolio and risk managers can interact and leverage advanced portfolio analytics to protect against market uncertainty will be held on February 26 at 11 am. Webcast Link

Averages drift in record territoryEach of the major stock averages is in positive territory in afternoon trading, which means a new record for the Dow and S&P and another step closer to 5,000 for the Nasdaq. The averages have drifted for most of the session, with most of the time being spent near the flat line, though all turned positive near noon. Despite the slight gains in the market the number of advancing stocks are ahead of declining stocks by more than 5:4. Near 2:30 pm EST, the Dow is up 10 points, the Nasdaq is up 6 points and the S&P is up 1 point.

Treasury's $35 B 5-year auction was well subscribed Treasury's $35 B 5-year auction was well subscribed, as expected, again supported by indirect bidders. They took 60.1%, the 4th highest on record. The note stopped right on the dime at 1.480%, where it traded at the bid deadline. There were almost $88.9 B in bids for a 2.54 cover, better than the 2.49 from January, but a little off the 2.71 average. But, direct bidders took only 5.2%, while primary dealers accepted 32.4%.